Author's Note: I do now own BNHA or any elements from other fandom, just my character and the island of Tsurukosa.
Chapter 12: Friendship Quest
One aspect of her ability told her that having bonds with others would help her level up faster, but Keiyu knew that was not possible for her on the island. Her strongest bond was with Papa but her bonds with GM and VC were nonexistent at the moment, probably because she needs to meet them in person. Mikan-san seemed fond of her but the bond thing didn't count and her grandparents were low as well. Mentioning her mom was moot at this point, she knew that the woman hated her for whatever reason. The Career thing had her meeting all of the kids who were training in their respective paths, but it didn't mean they came to an understanding. In fact, she was determined not to be in the same career as them which Dance was the only one. She had considered Writing because of how obsessed she was, but for her goal she needed to be as active as possible. Right now she wanted to focus on her future and her friends on chat. Her choice in the Career report wasn't finalized as it was still summer, but the training plan for that told her that instead of the three days she went to the ballet class, it would be every single day. Her body ached at the thought of it but she pushed it outside, for both of her goals she had to do this. An Olympic skater had to be fit and graceful, and the exercises would come in handy when she became an astronaut.
So far only her friends knew that she also planned on becoming an astronaut, and she wanted to tell Papa, but it meant her mom also finding out and she did not want that to happen. The woman was upset that she had already chosen Dancer, and if she found out that Keiyu planned on leaving the island to become an astronaut; therefore making it so that Papa might decide not to move to the island permanently, just the thought of the woman's reaction made her break out into sweats.
Yeah, her mom seriously needed help.
After all, she wanted to get off this island, and there was no harm in learning ballet for ice skating when she planned on becoming an Olympic skater.
Maybe she added too many goals for the future? Nah.
Unfortunately not everyone was content to let her remain friendless on the island, and her mom kept telling her to invite the kids she met at work to come to the house. But Keiyu did not want anything to do with them and told her mom that they were too busy or were not interested.
Then her mom brought someone home whom she never met before, a boy and his mother who had recently moved to the island.
"Keiyu this is Daichi, he's a new arrival to the island and his mom is a new nurse at the hospital," the boy had black hair and brown eyes, and there was a bitterness to his eyes and mouth that threw her off even as his mom with similar features pushed him forward.
"Go ahead sweetie," he stumbled towards her but caught himself, looking a bit embarrassed but daring her to make fun of him.
Well, it's not like she couldn't spare a few hours for him before the other kids inevitably got their claws into him.
"Do you play video games?" he blinked but nodded and she led him to the living room where her game station was and took out several cases.
"I have racing, dance, fighting, that's pretty much it," fantasy games were a no-go in this household after all.
"Racing," he pointed at the car one and she put that in, turning the TV and game thing on before handing him a controller.
She ended up beating him and he demanded a rematch several times, getting more and more angry as she kept beating him till he threw the controller down and stomped off.
Maybe she should have lost on purpose?
His mom dragged him back in and gave her an apologetic smile mixed with a grimace,
"Sorry, he hates losing and doesn't know how to have fun, why don't you guys watch a movie instead," Daichi looked mullish, glaring at his mom even as Keiyu opened the cabinet to look through the movies.
They ended up watching a kids movie about baseball and she tried not to let on how bored she felt even as Daichi seemed into it.
When that was over he challenged her to the racing game again and seeing that he wasn't going to drop it, she put it back in and muted the volume.
They played for two hours before his mom came in to pick him up and take him home.
"See, you can make friends," her mom looked smug and she bit back the comment of 'him not being raised on this island like the others' that wanted to come out.
"Yes ma'am," she stood up and went to her room, she lost a lot of time catering to the boy's whims and she wanted to finish the book series. Something about it drew her in and Mikan-san seemed pleased when she brought in the reviews from all three of them on the first several books.
The first book had immediately drawn her in, and the second book was just as great when she read it. Instead of focusing on the boy, it focused on two girls who had run away from their family situations for various reasons. The blonde had a temper that was easily riled and she could only be calmed by her green haired friend who had the psychic ability to recover objects that she had thrown. The two ended up captured by a trafficking gang but their abilities were seen as too low and so their price was low enough that one of the buyers bought them both at the same time. But when they were loaded up, the boy from before appeared in the back of the van and untied them with instructions to be quiet before he shot the driver and the guy dead. He had the green haired girl take over the driving while he shoved the bodies into the back and helped the blonde get into the front with him.
The fact that the green haired girl managed to actually drive without crashing was surprising and the boy directed them to a safehouse where he told them that they could stay for as long as they needed to get their life together before he tried to leave. But the blonde demanded to go with him and didn't take his warnings of what organization he was with seriously. In the end, both of them ended up joining and now apart from a private team member that didn't want their identity revealed, the number of agents was only thirty with only four or five of them under the age of 10. The boy was on a squad on his own and through some intense training and arguments, the two ended up on his squad with the private team member only sending them a letter about what was expected.
It confused her as to why Mikan-san did not add names to these characters, he just referred to the boy as the 'Catalyst' in the first book and the two girls as Amber and Emerald. Never by their names unless the organization was assigning their nickname, which is what happened in Book 4.
She was already on Book 8 and the turn that the story had taken worried her, and she dreaded what the final book would be. She tried asking Mikan-san about his inspiration but he put his finger to his lips and gave her a wink, which told her absolutely nothing. Nor did he tell her on when he planned to publish either.
"Just so you know, Daichi and his mom will be coming over every day for the rest of the week, he's in your grade so make sure he knows what to expect for school," her mom's voice would've made her jump if she hadn't heard the footsteps from the hallway. But seriously, she wasn't sure if the boy even wanted to think of her as a friend, no doubt he'll end up making friends with the other kids. She was actually surprised her ability didn't do a Quest of her befriending the boy, but maybe even her ability wasn't so mean as to force her to befriend the boy-
"I expect you and him to be friends before school starts," *ding* oh come on!
"Quest Alert: Attain Bond with Kusuo Daichi before school!"
Seriously? The boy was obviously not interested, and she didn't want to make bonds with someone just because her mom and ability told her to.
Can she just reject the Quest? No, apparently it doesn't have that option.
Daichi came the next day and their moms pushed them out of the house to play in the yard. Keiyu picked up a ball and started bouncing it while Daichi brooded on a nearby bench.
"What can you even do on this island," he grumbled, looking thoroughly miserable.
"Just wait till your high school age and you can request a transfer to one on the mainland," she suggested, he scoffed.
"Going back is an even worse idea," he didn't elaborate and she didn't pry, so they were trapped in an awkward silence as he thought about what was wrong with his life while she tried to occupy herself with a ball.
The next day their moms took them to the town and dropped them off at that creepy fast food restaurant that she never wanted to go back to. Daichi agreed with her about the creepiness by scooting away from the cashier who was content with just staring at them.
"Why did they leave us here?" he hissed, looking very uncomfortable.
"Probably thought it was a safe place for children because of the bright colors," she stared down at her burger and regretted ordering it, she should've just stuck with the sucky chicken nuggets. She took the bun off because her ability was warning her about eating the bread, so she just used her lettuce to wrap the meat up.
"There's no other restaurants?" he demanded, she shrugged.
"Those forbid children from going in by themselves, and it's clear our moms want to hang out together without watching over us," groaning, Daichi ate one of his fried shrimp and spit it out, sticking his tongue out at how gross it was and she snorted.
"Try taking a bit of this burger, it's so burnt that I'm pretty sure they made it out of ash," he gave it a look of disgust and shook his head.
"No way, not risking it, let's just get out of here," she shrugged.
"There's a convenience store that has a bench outside, they have cool ice cream," they ran out of there and went to the convenience store. He grabbed a chocolate sundae while she grabbed the taiyaki with green tea ice cream and anzu beans.
"Why'd you come to this island if you hate it here?" she asked him, he sighed.
"Bullies at my school think they're better than everyone else, why does your mom insist on us playing together if there are other children around?" the question could be considered rude, but she took it in stride.
"Because I don't hang out with any of the kids on this island, I've had a vase of flowers on my desk for a year," his eyes widened and he gave her a look.
"Why are they doing that?" she shrugged.
"Not sure, youngest in class, granddaughter of town chief? Maybe they got tired of me trying to befriend them and just plain don't like me? If they tell you of a tradition of going into the mountains as initiation, don't go," she didn't explain why, he didn't ask, merely grimacing and licking his ice cream.
Their moms found them, Daichi's mother kneeling down and fussing at him for leaving while her own mom looked at her with disapproval.
"Is there a reason you left the restaurant?" and risked my friendship with this woman, was left unsaid, but Keiyu gave her an innocent look.
"The food tasted bad and the boy at the counter kept staring at us weirdly," she defended, making her voice a bit high as Daichi nodded in agreement next to her.
"It was weird," his mom looked alarmed.
"Well then we aren't going there again, at least you two didn't go too far off, but ice cream?" she tried to scold him but it fell flat as she was more relieved at finding him than anything else.
Somehow that even thawed Daichi's attitude towards her and he didn't get as upset when the next day at the house, she beat him in the racing game, again.
It was a start, now they just had to wait for school to start to see where his loyalties lied.
Keiyu put in the form with her decision on the teacher's desk and Daichi put in his own form, his mom having gotten it for him when they had first arrived.
On the first day she realized that testing Daichi's loyalty wasn't going to happen, as the kids were more interested in playing with each other and Daichi didn't bother them about playing. Instead he worked on his schoolwork through lunch, she waited as a courtesy but told him that she usually left after lunch to dancing lessons. He had chosen a position at the dam because it reminded him of what his dad did back on the mainland. He ended up finishing his work at the same time and walked with her, both of them parted at the end of the path to the town as he went up the trail leading to the dam. She however went to the dance studio and was ushered in by Akiko-sensei who gave her a once over.
"Your my only student for the next two hours before the rest come in, we'll be working on your form," and there went two painful hours before the rest of the class came in and some of the younger girls stared at her panting form with a bit of fear in their eyes.
"Alright, come on class, we have a winter performance to get ready for, Mebuki-san, your new so go to Mumichi-san here who will show you the basic stretches and poses," a shy toddler with pink hair approached her and obeying the unspoken command, she started the girl on the basics (despite the fact that she herself was only six.) She wasn't much of a dancer and it was difficult learning all the moves that Akiko-sensei wanted her to, but the little girl didn't seem to mind being taught by her.
"How old are you Mebuki-san?" the girl peered up at her with green eyes.
"Three, I turn four in October, how about you?" Keiyu rubbed the back of her head.
"I turn seven in March, are you new to the island?" Mebuki-san's face scrunched up.
"Yes, Daddy wants to start a new life here," she looked upset at saying this and Keiyu panicked a bit as Akiko-sensei looked in their direction with a frown.
"How about we move onto the next set, we can advance you enough that you can join in the winter performance as well," the pinkette brightened up at that and Keiyu blinked as a chime appeared, telling her that she leveled up to Level 4.
Okay? That was weird.
